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Fenelon comments on life expectancy rates for Marketplace

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Fenelon comments on life expectancy rates for Marketplace

Zip codes can reveal a lot about people’s health

Janet Nguyen, writing for Marketplace, reports about the variation of life expectancy rates according to the U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project (USALEEP) comprehensive data set. Based on analysis, people living in different parts of the same city show diverse life expectancy rates. Among the 10 areas in the U.S. with the highest life expectancy, Chatam, NC is number one, followed by Friendship Village, MD; Newton, MA; Glen Echo, MD; Chinatown and Lower East Side, NY; Washington Square Village, NY; and Shelter Island and Purchase, NY. Faculty Associate Andrew Fenelon notes: “I think we're seeing two sides of different processes. One is in Washington Square, New York: you have the concentration of high-income and high-education white populations. And then in Chinatown, you have the concentration of Asian immigrants or children of Asian immigrants.”

On the other side, the 10 areas in the U.S. with the lowest life expectancy rates are: Stilwell, OK; Logan, WV; Checotah, OK; Roosevelt Island area, NY; Gulfport, MS; Eufaula, OK and Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; and, finally, Buffalo, NY and Hinton, WV. “Native Americans have had generations of experience with economic disadvantage and few jobs, which has led to all sorts of issues with access to health care and issues with substance abuse.... Buffalo, New York, is very culturally distinct from the New York City region. It's much more aligned with more rust belt, post-industrial cities in the Midwest.... A lot of the healthier and wealthier folks who could leave Buffalo eventually have gone either to the suburbs or to other cities. And so, now you have pockets left where a lot of the resources are gone, but you still have folks who are living there. And as a result, their health and welfare have suffered” Fenelon concluded.